This month I have cycled 500 miles!

[Andrew_Culture]

(I love cycling in cold weather, hate the summer heat though hence my decline over the past 3 months).

I'm really looking forward to winter cycling, I'm getting a bit fed up of turning up for work looking like someone who opened the wrong door when trying to find the toilets during a Roman Gladiator sports day.

 

[Rob3rt]

I wonder if I could raise it to 1000 miles a month...

You probably could if you could find the time, I am on about 150 so far this week and tbh, it is fairly sustainable (although not if the pace is as high as it was last night, lol).

 

[Andrew_Culture]

TBH I think it would be unfair on my wife and child! I like the idea that I'm at the stage that I might physically be able to manage 1000 miles in a month though!

 

[briantrumpet]

TBH I think it would be unfair on my wife and child! I like the idea that I'm at the stage that I might physically be able to manage 1000 miles in a month though!

Quite so. At about 220 miles a week, that's probably about/over 15 hours on the bike, week in, week out. That's quite hard to sustain, even without a family to think about, especially if you chuck in a few lean weeks, pushing the other weeks up to 250 miles. That'd be 5 days of 30 miles of commuting (say) plus a 100-miler at the weekend.

And in any case, you probably won't end up a 'better' cyclist, as you'll run the risk of being in a permanent state of partial exhaustion. Better to keep it manageable and your body raring to go for when you do go out.

 

[The Jogger]

Nice mileage, I will do just over 120 / 130 this week (which is a first) if I stick to plan but that is plus over 3 hours a day on the train as well on my commute of 5 hours a day. Was thinking of having a day off the bike until I read this thread.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I now do almost all of my miles by extending my commute and popping out at lunchtime. I reckon I've about done the mile eating phase, now I want to get faster

 

[DougieAB]

Good going! Thats my normal monthly mileage, four weeks of 125 miles (5 x 25 daily). I find that this is about my limit at the moment but would like to do more weekend cycles, just need someone to share the pain with!

 

[Rob3rt]

TBH I think it would be unfair on my wife and child! I like the idea that I'm at the stage that I might physically be able to manage 1000 miles in a month though!

Fair point! Depends if you can manage to sneak away early doors to get a few miles in. Also depends on your pace and your mentality. I used to feel that heading out for 40 mile was a substantial undertaking (not the distance, but the preparation and organising myself, plotting routes, loading Garmin's, taking loads of food etc) and would do it once a week or so, but now, I am prepared by default for anything up to about 60 mile, I pretty much jump on the bike and go, very little prep or thinking, just fill a bottle, grab some food (I always have the relevant foods in stock) and go, I have my Garmin loaded with numerous routes (and I add to the selection as I download the latest club rides to it), I just select one, get the distance done and be home in just over 2 hours (for a usual 40 mile training ride) and the day continues as per the norm.

If you want to ride the miles, you need to make it as easy as you can to get out of the door. As little thinking as possible. This can means one large push to organise yourself, but once the prep is done, you just keep it in stock and it will soon become habit.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I totally agree, I've got my bike hanging (pointing the correct direction) by the back gate, all I need is a bottle of drink and a gel or two and I'm off and out. My GPS is just for tracking but I tend to research routes well before leaving. I guess the more cycling you do the less you prepare, or to be precise you prepare better. I've hugely cut back the amount of tools I carry around, to the extent now that I don't need to bother taking my hydro-pack out with me.

This month has been quite intense (teething!) so I haven't managed to get out as early in the morning (to extend my commute) as I would have liked, but it just means I've had to get better at going out for a lunchtime ride.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Well done Andrew,

I started back in June, did about 10m in an hr, but it was mainly pottering about so it didn't feel much, anyway I decided to try a longer run of nearly 20m that did hurt, anyway been cycling most days since, sometimes 7 days, then sometimes nearly 7 off, last wk I did 200m for first time this year, I am aiming to do 600m this month.

This is my monthly summery sheet

I do have height data though not sure how accurate it is, from what I have its about 850ft a ride, not much, but theres not many hills.

This is my weekly summery

I wont include the daily totals, this is composed from my basic bike comp, I just got a Bryton 35, seems to be an issue with altitude, I ended up 60ft lower then when I set off, even though it was the same place.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

I'll be changing my routine over this coming winter. This year was all about endurance, spending lots of hours on the bike, hill climbing and working in lots of distance rides. From doing 500-600 miles per month from January through to May, I stepped up to 850+ miles in May and June before the July Etape. It made a big difference to my schedule to be honest and whilst to begin with, I was anxious to start time trialling and road racing in the spring, when the time came although I did a bit, it didn't fit in with the objective I had - to finish the Etape, which for me would constitute an endurance event. It therefore took a back seat and I forsook the evening 10 TT for a 60-70 mile training ride.

And therein is the point...to what end is any riding? Enjoyment, focus based or a mixture of both? If I told you Andrew that I also have kids you'd probably think my other half was a saint for giving me all that time and you'd be right - she is. But my excuse was my boy's charity and she was fully supportive.

But... to next year I want to change the focus, spend time on the turbo over the dark nights and concentrate on shorter distances at a much faster pace, to the end of fully immersing myself in road racing next season. This year I've been happy with a lower average speed given the hill climbing and the distances, opposed next season where average speed over a shorter distance will mean more, much much more than distance per se.

Either way, well done mate, it's an achievement and if it makes you feel good then that's half the battle.

Good luck fella.'

 

[Andrew_Culture]

My target is still lard reduction but I get a real kick out of mile-eating and I'm unsure why. Over the next few months I think I'm going to focus on raising my average speed rather than just trying to cover as many miles as possible, after all given enough time mile-eating isn't all that challenging, well not unless you're just starting out I guess.

I'm enjoying hearing others' experiences, keep it up

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Theres one target I would like to hit before the years out and thats 50m non stop, I can do 25-to 30m with out a problem, its the next 20m or so, I think more due to wanting a cig after about 2hrs, I must really think about quitting. I will also be happy if I can manage an avg of between 15-16 by the end of the year too. My projections say I should, but your increases become less noticeable. Having said that I was doing 15+ on a lot of sections on strava, most an improvement on the last time I rode them, and as I said it was an easy ride, as i was messing with the new gps thing, some of the time, when the newness wears off, I will see what i get on these sections.

 

[Nearly there]

Well done Andrew like many in march last year I bought a mtb but didn't really push myself probably averaged 2 rides a week at no more than 5-8 miles a time which used to kill me,then around August I started to really push myself and was riding 4 times a week and I got my first 20 miler in then from there in I got the bug and carried on riding through the winter,then in feb this year I got my road bike and now average 250-300 miles a month plus im 3 stones lighter.

 

[rb58]

Well done Andrew. How about taking on the Century a Month challenge in 2013? Here and here. Very few of us left this year.